Tales of the Live Music Archive

It’s quite tempting to visit Internet Archive’s Live Music Archive and be drawn to the bands you’re familiar with and adore. Grateful Dead, Smashing Pumpkins, Jason Mraz, Yonder Mountain String Band, and Guster all beg you to choose their name, boasting 300+ shows and countless downloads. Don’t get me wrong, I can click on some of those bands all day and get completely wrapped up in their myriad of live shows. One of the joys of the Archive, however, is to get exposed to those smaller bands that either are on the brink of making it big or have met their demise years ago with only the Archive paying them homage.

Here’s a teaser list of what you can find in the LMA with just a few clicks of the mouse:

I went fishing through the LMA one night last year, and was fortunate enough to come across Jesca Hoop’s music–it is fantastic! Be sure to check her out (most of the recordings feature a lot of the same songs, but those from the last month or two have new material from her upcoming album).